Blue is one of the seven colours into which the rays of light divide themselves when refracted through a glassprism, seen in nature in the clear expanse of the heavens; the term is also applied to a dye or pigment of this hue.
The substances used as blue pigments are of very different natures, and derived from various sources; they are all compound bodies, some being natural and others artificial. They are derived almost entirely from the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. The principal blues used in painting are ultramarine, which was originally prepared from lapis-lazuli or azure-stone - a mineral found in China and other oriental countries - but, as now prepared, it is an artificial compound of china-clay, carbonate of soda, sulphur, and charcoal; Prussian or Berlin blue, which is a compound of cyanogen and iron; blue bice, prepared from carbonate of copper; indigo blue, from the indigo plant. Besides these, there are numerous other blues used in art, as blue-verditer, smalt- and cobalt-blue, from cobalt, lacmus or litmus, etc.
Before the discovery of aniline or coal-tar colours dyers chiefly depended for their blues on woad, archil, indigo, and Prussian blue, but now a series of brilliant blues are obtained from coal-tar, possessing great tinctorial power and various degrees of durability.
Blue as a colour ranges from green-blue (turquoise) through to purple-blue (indigo).
Alice blue - A very light greenish-blue colour.
Aquamarine - A bluish-green colour.
Azure - A deep blue colour reminiscent of the sky.
Aquamarine - A pale greenish-blue colour.
Bice blue - A medium blue colour
Cambridge blue - A light blue colour.
Cobalt blue - A deep blue colour with a greenish-tint. The colour of old blue glass.
In sculpture, a colossus is a statue of enormous magnitude. The Asiatics, the Egyptians, and in particular the Greeks, have excelled in these works. The most celebrated Egyptian colossus was the vocal statue of Memnon in the plain of Thebes, supposed to be identical with the most northerly of two existing colossi (60 feet high) on the west bank of the Nile.
Among the colossi of Greece the most celebrated was the Colossus of Rhodes, a brass statue of Apollo 70 cubits high, esteemed one of the wonders of the world, erected at the port of Rhodes by Chares, 290 or 288 BC. It was knocked down by an earthquake about 224 BC. The statue was in ruins for nearly nine centuries, when the Saracens, taking Rhodes, sold the metal, weighing 720,900 lbs, to a Jew, about 653. There is no authority for the popularly-received statement that it bestrode the harbour mouth, and that the Rhodian vessels could pass under its legs.
Among the colossi of Phidias were the Olympian Zeus and the Athena of the Parthenon; the former 60 feet high and the latter 40 feet.
The most famous of the Roman colossi were the Jupiter of the Capitol, the Apollo of the Palatine Library, and the statue of Nero, 110 or 120 feet high, and from which the contiguous amphitheatre derived its name of Colosseum.
Among modern works of this nature is the colossus of San Carlo Borromeo, at Arona, in the Milanese territory, 60 feet in height; the 'Bavaria' at Munich, 65 feet high; the statue of Hermann or Arminius near Detmold, erected in 1875, 90 feet in height to the point of the upraised sword, which itself is 24 feet in length; the height of the figure to the point of the helmet being 55 feet;
the statue of Germania, erected in 1883 near Rudesheim, a figure 34 feet high, placed on an elaborately-sculptured pedestal over 81 feet high; and Bartholdi's statue of Liberty presented to the United States by the French nation, and which measures 104 feet or to the extremity of the torch in the hand of the figure 138 feet. It is erected at New York harbour on a pedestal 114 feet, is constructed for a lighthouse with what was at one time was one of the most powerful fixed lights in the world, and stands 317 feet above mean tide. Research Colossus
In geography, a delta is an alluvial triangular deposit formed at diverging mouths of a river, the original delta is the island formed at the mouths of the Nile and so named by the Greeks from its resemblance to their letter delta (a triangle). Research Delta
Ambatch is a thorny leguminous shrub with yellow flowers growing in the shallows of the Upper Nile and other rivers of tropical Africa. It grows to between four and six metres tall. The wood is very light and spongy and is used to make rafts. Research Ambatch
The crocodile bird (Pluvianus aegyptius) is a plover-like courser so named from its association with the Nilecrocodile from which it picks and eats parasites from the crocodile's mouth. The crocodile and the crocodile bird exhibit symbiosis, the crocodile bird providing a lookout for danger for the crocodile and a tooth cleaning service in exchange for food. Research Crocodile Bird
The Ibis (Ibididae) is a family of birds related to the storks, and mostly found in warm countries. The bill is long, slender, and nearly cylindrical, tapers towards the tip, and is more or less arched. The head is always more or less bare of feathers, the tail is short, and there are generally tufts of plume-like feathers near the posterior end of the body.
The most famous member of the family is the sacred ibis (Ibis aethiopica or Ibis religiosa) of the ancient Egyptians, often found as a mummy in temples. This is found throughout Africa. It is about the size of a common fowl, with its head and neckbare, and white plumage, the primaries of the wings being tipped with black and the secondaries being bright black, glossed with green and violet. It was reared in the temples of ancient Egypt with a degree of respect bordering on adoration, and after death was preserved in a mummified condition. The cause of its being deemed sacred was no doubt because it appeared in Egypt with the rise of the Nile; but it is now rare in that country, living farther south.
There are several other species, as the Ibis falcinellus, or glossy ibis, nearly 60 cm in length, which nests in Asia, but migrates also to Egypt, sometimes visiting England; the Ibis rubra of tropical America, remarkable for its scarlet plumage; the Ibis alba, or white ibis of Florida; the Ibis or Geronticus spinicollis, or straw-necked ibis of Australia; etc.aqws Research Ibis
The monitor is any of various lizards of the family Varanidae, found in Africa, South Asia, and Australasia.
Monitors are generally large and carnivorous, with well-developed legs and claws and a long powerful tail that can be swung in defence. Monitors include the Komodo dragon, the largest of all lizards, and also the slimmer Salvador's monitor (Varanus salvadorii), which may reach 2.5m. Several other monitors, such as the Lace monitor (Varanus varius), the perentie Varanus giganteus of Australia, and the Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) of Africa, are up to two metres long. Research Monitor
The Mouthbrooder (Sarotherodon niloticus) is a freshwaterfish of the family Cichlidae, widespread in central Africa and along the Nile. It grows to 50 centimetres long and has a deep, compressed body. The female broods the eggs in her mouth (hence the name). In some areas it is an important food fish. Research Mouthbrooder
Abbreviations
Research Colossus
